Thursday the Republican majority on the Committee on House Financial Services is set to demonstrate its role as government puppet in the service of Wall Street when it finally releases its report on the collapse of MF Global.

In lieu of upholding the rule of law by demanding the prosecution of Jon Corzine, the Republican-drafted report will instead recommend the adoption of even more legislation for Wall Street criminals to flout as they continue to loot Main Street with complete impunity:

"In its report, the subcommittee recommends that Congress consider legislation to impose civil liability on the officers and directors of futures commission merchants (FCMs) like MF Global who sign financial statements or authorize transfers from customer segregated accounts."

In approving Corzine’s theft of $1.6 billion from customers, Republicans are following President Obama’s lead in two ways.

First, they are acquiescing in Obama’s dictate on 60 Minutes that what Wall Street did was unethical or immoral, but “wasn’t illegal.” The report is silent on whether the victimized MF Global customers or their attorneys agree with that assessment.

Second, Republicans are obediently following Obama’s policy of refusing to punish crime with prosecution and jail, as mandated by law, but with sweeping it under the rug with bankrupt promises to “look forward as opposed to looking backwards.”

To those uninitiated in the ways of financial crime, it might appear anomalous for Republicans to pass up the opportunity to demand that one of President Obama's top campaign bundlers, Jon Corzine, be prosecuted for the outright theft of $1.6 billion from the customers of MF Global. Alas, if there was ever a doubt about the security of Wall Street's position atop the Republican pecking order, this should conclusively put it to rest.

Not to be outdone, Democrats on the do-nothing Finance Committee have managed to do even less about Corzine's billion-dollar looting rampage than their GOP counterparts. As pitiful as the report is, they won't even sign it and are "preparing an addendum to the report" instead. This was expected given Corzine's prominence within the Party, but it doesn't excuse the sin. Theft is theft and connections shouldn't determine punishment.

Reader Comments (20)

Yea it's all the Republican's fault the Holder appointed by Obama who btw is staying on won't prosecute WHAT???? You do realize whose job it is to prosecute don't you?

Report: Obama Asks Holder to Stay for Second Term

snip

He's back. President Barack Obama reportedly asked Eric Holder to stay as attorney general after he's inaugurated for a second term, and the controversial Cabinet head agreed.“I don’t know if everyone in the White House wants him [Holder] to stay, but the important guy does, and that’s all that matters,” a source told the New York Post.

This story is about the GOP report on MF Global. As part of this report they make a recommendation. They are not recommending that Corzine be prosecuted. This is our complaint.

How can you excuse the GOP for not recommending that corzine be prosecuted?

No one expects DEMs to recommend prosecution for Corzine b/c he is one of their own politically. But the GOP is another matter entirely. They control the committee and control the final report, and yet their conclusion is that Corzine should not be prosecuted.

With this report, which give a pass to the criminal behavior of Obama's top fundraiser, House Republicans have exposed the total sham that is American politics to reveal the REAL political parties: Wall Street and Main Street.

And guess what? Main Street has ZERO representation by Democrats or Republicans, which are merely 2 factions of the Wall Street Party.

The rule above by its express terms states that it's the (Republcan-controlled) HOUSE--not the Senate--that has the legal authority to draft articles of impeachment. The Senate conducts impeachment trials once articles of impeachment have passed the (Republcan-controlled) HOUSE.

So here's the situation: Corzine is a Democrat. Corzine is Obama's biggest fundraiser. Corzine stole $1.6 billion. Corzine is the PERFECT legal target for Republicans to carpet-bomb. And yet what do they do? They issue a milque toast report that gives Corzine a free pass. Why? Because Corzine is Wall Street, and the Republicans are nothing but cowardly Wall Street bitches who don't give a shit about either the law or the American people.

And the Democrats are exactly the same as Republicans. Does that help?

Cheyenne, great work here. Love how you couch this in terms of Repubs kowtowing to the Kenyan socialist. Did you send this to prominent Republicans? At the very least, their minions should have to read it and/or delete it. It won't have a practical effect just yet, but it's good for the soul to let them know you're not beat yet. You know, like Steve McQueen in "Papillon":

Awesome, pitch. That's exactly it. Let 'em know we're still here and ready for another round. So bring it on. Besides I have great confidence that Corzine will find trouble as soon as DOJ wraps up their non-prosecution. From what James Koutoulas has told me by email, he has more than one state AG interested in busting Corzine, but they are waiting until DOJ is done with him officially.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np4hxXlvWsU (Lauren Lyster on manipulation of silver prices, noting that "a FOUR-YEAR INVESTIGATION of the silver market looks increasingly like to be dropped after U.S. regulators failed to find enough evidence to support a legal case")

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that federal probes into Wall Street fraud were nothing more than a vehicle for running out the five-year statute of limitations on fraud, thereby precluding prosecutions at the state level.

Mr. Koutoulas and his clients are well advised not to hold their breath, ignore whatever federal preemption noises they hear from Washington, D.C., and pull the trigger.

By way of comparison, Lehman Brothers--the entire company and its $600 billion in assets--declared bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, and the bankruptcy examiner's 2200-page report, based only in part on a review of some 34,000,000 documents, was completed inside of 18 months.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think that federal probes into Wall Street fraud were nothing more than a vehicle for running out the five-year statute of limitations on fraud, thereby precluding prosecutions at the state level."

Yep. Before you wrote the punchline^, that's exactly what I thought. It's funny what happens when you put the right numbers side by side. Call it Titus's Law of Four: 4 + 4 + ( 4 x n) = Running the Clock for Wall St.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think that federal probes into Wall Street fraud were nothing more than a vehicle for running out the five-year statute of limitations on fraud, thereby precluding prosecutions at the state level."

Could the FED's and Wall Street be involved in a criminal conspiracy to prevent prosecution of Wall Street for fraud because, from the beginning they were involved in a criminal conspiracy that allowed the fraud to go forward with no enforcment of law, regulations, or oversight in the first place? If thats the case, if Wall Street goes to jail they're going to drag a large portion of the Federal Government along with them. There is no honor or loyalty among thieves. If not prosecuted those crooks on Wall Street are going to get away with the largest criminal fraud in U.S. history, and right now it looks like the Federal Government is doing everything they can to make sure that is exactly what happens.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.VX) will pay a combined $416.9 million to settle U.S. civil charges that they misled investors in the sale of risky mortgage bonds prior to the 2008 financial crisis, regulators said on Friday.

JPMorgan will pay $296.9 million, while Credit Suisse will pay $120 million in a separate case, with the money going to harmed investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.

Both settlements addressed alleged negligence or other wrongdoing in the packaging and sale of risky residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), including at the former Bear Stearns Cos which JPMorgan bought in 2008.

The banks settled without admitting wrongdoing, and in separate statements said they were pleased to settle.

Good pick-up, john. It's a few hours before the weekend, which means the cadaver that the S.E.C. is shoving under the carpet has rotted beyond recognition. And this JP Morgan case is no exception.

The key paragraphs from the article:

"The SEC accused JPMorgan of materially overstating in a prospectus the quality of home loans that backed a $1.8 billion RMBS offering it underwrote in December 2006.

According to the SEC, the largest U.S. bank represented that just four loans were delinquent by 30 to 59 days, when in fact there were more than 620, or about 7 percent of the total. Investors lost at least $37 million as a result, the SEC said."

So... JPM tells investors that 4 loans in the pool are bad, and the real number is 150 times as big. Sounds about right. That part I believe.

The part about investors losing $37 million on a $1.8 billion deal, or 2%--well, that's total horseshit. Even S.E.C. enforcement head Robert Khuzami admits to--at the top of the story--"tremendous losses suffered by investors." In case the S.E.C. hadn't noticed, the mortgage meltdown occasioned losses that were slightly higher than 2%. Houses have declined from 1/4 to 1/3 in value, with mortgage-backed securities well north of that.

It's amazing that the S.E.C. can't even keep its shit in one bag through a simple press release.

I mean, if Khuzami gets off french-kissing Jamie Dimon's cornhole, hey, I'm no prude; go wild, fellas. Just keep it out of the newspapers.

“Tonight’s decision by Treasury to exempt foreign exchange swaps and forwards creates a large unjustified loophole in derivatives regulation,” said Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, a nonprofit organization that protects the public interest in the financial markets.

“During the 2008 financial crisis, the market for foreign exchange swaps and forwards collapsed along with the other markets. This required the Federal Reserve Bank to bail out the foreign exchange markets with $5.4 trillion in the three months following the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy,” said Mr. Kelleher.

“This exemption is a loophole that Wall Street’s financial engineers will undoubtedly exploit. It is an early Christmas gift to Wall Street and a piece of coal to American taxpayers who will be at increased risk of having to fund yet more bailouts in the next crisis,” said Mr. Kelleher.

“Wall Street fought hard to convince Treasury to grant this loophole, which is unjustified by independent research. That may be why, after two years of consideration, the United States Treasury announced such an important financial regulation decision on a Friday night at 5PM when Congress is on recess and on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. The goal of such a ‘Friday night special’ is to avoid media coverage and public attention. While it is all too common in Washington, DC, the American people deserve better,” said Mr. Kelleher.

All roads contained herein run through British protectorate offshore banks to the City of London and the 'Grand Patron' queen lizard. Perle>Geithner>LIBOR, Bush41 deregulation, Corzine computerized three-card Monty, etc.. Like Chet Atkins said,"There is going to be changes made."

I imagine such a revenge hit threat was made to John Lear, son of the late inventor and developer of the Lear jet. John had been a pilot for the CIA and we all know what that means in the area of cargo transport from South America and Southeast Asia. John Lear filled out an affidavit opining that holograms bashed the holes in the WTCs on 9-11-2001. Holograms can not damage a child's balloon. John Lear is in deep kimchee.